The invention concerns an incendiary compound and a projectile.
Incendiary compounds are used as fragmentation incendiary rounds in a projectile body or warhead together with a high explosive and in armor-piercing projectiles that do not contain an explosive. The detonative or mechanical fragmentation of the projectile or warhead in or near the target causes the formation not only of fragments but also of high-speed particles of incendiary material that burn independently in the air. This results in an incendiary effect of long duration in a spatially large region.
Previously known fragmentation incendiary ammunition contains mixtures of high explosives, such as hexogen, octogen, TNT, and aluminum powder.
DE 29 01 517 describes an incendiary compound with an organic binder and a sponge metal, e.g., composed of zirconium or hafnium, where polytetrafluoroethylene is used as the binder in an amount of 2-15 wt. %.
EP 0 051 324 B1 of the present applicant discloses an incendiary compound of this general type, which contains an organic binder and metal particles. Proceeding from the prior art, in accordance with which the use of fluorinated binders promotes the formation of the tetrafluoride of the given metal, and in accordance with which metals in the form of coarse-grained, porous, spongy particles with a particle size of 0.05 to 8 mm are used with the goal of prolonging the burning time, the cited document proposes the use of metal powders with a mean particle size 15-50 μm. The binder, which is a halogen-free organic binder, namely, polyvinyl acetate, is present in an amount of less than 2 wt. %. Sufficient compressibility of the metal powder is thus still ensured. The metal additive itself produces an increase in the blast effect and a prolongation of the flame life from 1 ms to 15 ms. This increases the probability that combustible material will ignite.
EP 1 286 129 A1 discloses another incendiary compound for a fin-stabilized kinetic energy projectile, which has a good effect despite a relatively small volume and low weight. The incendiary charge is ignited by the shock waves generated by the impact of the projectile on the target. A sponge metal composed of titanium is used, and an epoxy resin or polyester resin is used as the binder. The particle size range of the titanium sponge metal is on the order of 450 μm, with 30% of the sponge metal having a particle size greater than 450 μm and 70% a particle size less than 450 μm.